Summer Rain
by Rayche
Summary: Manami Hamasaki wasn't a fighter. After her mother died she didn't have one rebellious bone in her body. She just wanted to be with her family, but when they're violently ripped from her life, will a certain Uchiha be able to help her fight again?SasuXOC
1. Manami Hamasaki

**HELLO! Thank you for clicking on this. You should read it and then click another button and review it because that would make you a really cool person. **

**Uhhh, this first chapter might be like suuuper long but I'm pretty sure all the ones after this are gonna be shorter, so bear with me please:).**

**This is my first story in a really long time, and I hope you like it!**

**-Rachel**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Here's this instead!**

Manami was just thirteen years old that day. Before then, her father, sister and she had been a happy, average family. Besides not having a mother around the house, there was nothing out of the ordinary about their everyday life. Manami's father, Akimitsu, was a professor at one of the academies in the land of the water, their home. Aiko was her younger sister, by five years. She was eight then. They lived in a small and cozy cottage towards the outskirts of the hidden waterfall village, overlooking the beautiful blue sea that Manami once loved so dearly.

Manami's father and sister were the only people she ever cared to be around. After her mother died, she had become reclusive, and slowly one by one, she let her friends slip away. This never bothered Manami, she didn't mind being alone. She didn't mind a lot of things after her mother died. She just did what she was supposed to do when she was supposed to do it, not having a rebellious bone in her body. When she was at school she was a quiet student, and nobody ever bothered to talk to her anyways. She was invisible to the world around her- and that was the way she liked it.

Accept for her once expressive bright green eyes, which were now dull and cloudy, nothing ever stood out about her. When she went to school, she kept her wavy blonde locks tied up in a tight bun, not wanting the attention she knew they would bring. That's why her father always said he had first fallen in love with Manami's mother; because of her hair. Manami always laughed when he mentioned this, for what a silly thought, falling in love with someone for their hair. This was the only trait she recieved from her mother, and she was grateful for that. Aiko, on the other hand, looked like her mom in every aspect. She had her large blue eyes the color of the sky on a clear day, and her fair, delicate skin that glowed when she was outside. Unlike Manami, she kept her hair down all the time. Manami once questioned her about it, when she had accidentally gotten bubblegum stuck in it. Aiko refused to have it cut out, and so Manami was stuck trying to comb it out. When she asked, her younger sister just answered simply that she is happy that she has something to remember her mom by, for she never did get to meet her. Sometimes Manami hated her for that- she didn't know what she had lost.

They were happy though, the three of them together.

One summer, the family decided to go on vacation to Konoha, for they heard once that it was beautiful there in the summer. They travelled on the safest route to the beautiful village by taking a boat across a small strait that connected their home to the other lands. They walked the rest of the way on foot, stopping in various other villages along the way. When they finally arrived, they booked a hotel room. It was a nice hotel, and the people at the front desk were very kind, smiling politely when little Aiko rambled on and on about this and that when they were checking into their room. They were going to stay there a week, then return home.

That was the plan.

On the last faithful day of their trip, they were going to stop by the little market down the street to pick up some provisions for the road before they would leave. On the way there, the sky started to darken into an angry grey that worried the small blonde girl. She hoped there wasn't going to be a storm; they'd have to delay their travels for another day. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the beautiful scenery of the fire country, it's just that she was feeling a little homesick, and longed for her own bed, not one she had to share with her sister, who by the way, happened to snore (another wonderful trait of her mother's- Akimitsu tried to pass it off as being charming, but Manami was not convinced).

There was also a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that kept telling her something was off here. She kept shaking it away, but it was starting to make her anxious.

They passed a green open field with a couple of ninjas-in-training practicing throwing shuriken, their leaf village headbands glinting in the sunlight. The group stopped to watch for a little bit, and little Aiko gazed at them with awe. She was only 8 then, and already she knew what she was going to be when she grew up. She told her older sister everyday- "Mana, you just watch, I'm going to become the greatest ninja on earth!" Her eyes always gleamed with determination when she talked about becoming a ninja, and Manami never doubted her. Once Aiko had something in her head, she would not stop until she had it. Looking down at her sister, she groaned. They wouldn't hear the end of the leaf village for a month.

"Come onnn Aiko, we gotta go before it starts raining!" Manami said, glancing up at the sky again. She pulled her father and Aiko's hands and dragged them away from the field.

"Oh no, you're right, it does look a bit cloudy out here doesn't it?" Akimitsu said worridly, looking up too. "It'll be fine, dad," Manami assured her father, even though the nagging feeling was coming back again.

Still on the road to the store, they passed an oddly dressed man with a hair cut that looked like he just put a bowl on his head and snipped around it. He was fashioning a revolting army green jumpsuit. Manami pushed Aiko playfully,

"When you grow up are you gonna wear funny clothes like that too? 'Cause I don't know if I could stand having a sister that dressed like that everyday!"

"I'm not! Daddy tell her I'm not." She said in a determined pouting voice that she recently learned how to use against her poor father to her advantage.

"Of course you're not honey," He said. Then, crouching down to her level, he whispered, "you're just going to dye your hair like that guy." He smiled, and pointed, his eyes crinkling up in the corners.

Manami looked over, and indeed the man next to the green jumpsuit guy definitely had grey hair. He didn't look old or anything, just kind of silly. It stood straight up. Maybe he was going for silver or something, Manami thought. He also wore a black mask over his mouth and a black Konoha headband tilted to the side to cover up his left eye. The too men looked like they were having a tense discussion with eachother, and they kept looking around, like they were making sure nobody else was listening to them.

"AM NOT!" Aiko screamed. Akimitsu picked her up in his arms, assuring her that she was going to do no such thing. Tears were already forming in her eyes, and Manami could feel a fit coming on. She shushed her sister, still staring intently at the ninja men in the funny outfits. There was something weird about them- the way they were speaking to eachother, afraid someone would hear. The grey haired one was facing her direction, and under that mask Manami could sense he was worried about something, just by the expression in his eye. He glanced at her, gave her a look, then he was expressionless again, and Manami looked down, embarassed.

When she looked back up again, the man was nowhere in sight. Manami blinked, confused, then turned to tell her father about the weird encounter, but he was no longer beside her, nor her sister. Manami often caught herself in trances such as this, where she would lose sight of reality for a moment and sort of space out.

Looking around again, she spotted her father holding her sister a little ways down the street, standing in front of a beat-up looking ramen stand. They were smiling at someone inside of it, talking cheerfully about something like the weather, or what kind of ninja academy there was there, and how old kids could start in it. He was probably bribing Aiko with a bowl of ramen, so she would quiet down. Manami laughed to herself- he was so weak when it came to his youngest daughter.

Akimitsu turned and waved her over, smiling. Manami smiled back and was walking slowly, taking her time. She was in no hurry to hear her sister whine right now. Manami looked back up at the sky and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the slight breeze on her skin as she walked. She frowned and realized she didn't even bring a jacket on this trip, because the stupid weather was supposed to be nice! Now she was probably going to be soaked to the bone if it started raining and all she had on was a tank top, great.

When she opened her eyes again, she zeroed in on a man dressed in all black, walking behind the ramen stand. Only Manami could see him from her angle, the rest of the people in the fairly busy street oblivious. Manami watched as the tall mysterious man carefully took out a small piece of paper from the inside of his long dark trench coat, and smoothed it on to the side of the little booth. He turned and looked at her for a second. There was a large scar that crossed diagonally across his face, and his eyes were a brilliant green. He was big- bigger than her father and one of those ninja from earlier combined, yet still the world around him paid no attention; it was like he was invisible.

The man wore his hood up, giving him a sinister look. She caught his eye. For the rest of her life Manami would never be able to forget the slight smirk he directed at her then, the playfullness in his vibrant golden eyes. This was just a game to him; her and her family were nothing but silly little tourists that happened to be in the completly wrong place at the completly wrong time.

She knew nothing at the time of the ninja art, besides what her little sister told her from the numerous books she read. No, Manami had no idea that the small piece of paper inscribed with characters she didn't recognize that was stuck just feet from her father and small little sister was a paper bomb, meant to destroy anything close to it.

Confused, Manami looked at her smiling father on one side of the ramen shop, waving at her, and then back at the smirking and hooded green-eyed man, hidden from everyone elses view. Her smile faded and she took another step foward towards the scary figure. She gasped when he gave her one last smile, winked, then silently dissapeared in a puff of white smoke.

It was all in slow motion. Manami was looking at her little sister's face. Aiko was fixed on the bowl of ramen being handed to her when her father gave her a kiss on the cheek as if to say, "there, all better?". And for a moment, a single fraction of a second, everything was as it should be. All that mysterious man nonsense was in Manami's head, no need to worry. Her smile returned.

Then she blinked once,

and her world was on fire.

**OK. Phew. **

**This is my first story I've written in like a super long time, and the stories I wrote a super long time ago sucked. Sooo, please review and tell me what you think, and if you have any suggestions at all, or advice or whatever, that would be pretty awesome. You can be mean if you want I guess, whateva. And also tell me if this format is ok, like if I should make the paragraphs farther apart or something? K cool.**

**Oooo, I'm excited for the next chapter. It's gonna be awesome. READ IT.**

**Thanks!**

**-Rachel**


	2. Fire

**HELLO! Ok so I know that probably nobody is reading this. But I will continue to write anyways, whoo! And if one person happens to read it and like it, please PLEASE just review and say something. You dont even have to say anything just be like "hey that was good" thats it, promise.**

**Soooo here's the second chapter. I thought I was going to name my chapters but then I forgot and didn't name the first one, but I think I can change it so I'm gonna go do that :) And this one is super super short too, sorry:( But next one is longer, and I'll update it soon.**

**Hope you like it, non-existent readers!**

**DISCLAIMER- I don't own Naruto.**

**-.-.-**

Manami flew backwards, unfeeling at first. She hit the flaming ground with a thud, then skidded to a hault with her eyes closed – when she opened them again, the world was silent. A flaming silent world full of screaming people.

She lifted her head fast, unaware of what was going on. Then the pain came. The flames around her spun, and she was seeing double of the strangers laying around her, littering the ground. Looking down at her shorts she slowly realized the stinging sensation on her thighs was fire, burning her flesh. She screamed, but there was no sound.

She threw herself down and rolled, like they told you to do in school.

It was like one of those horrible nightmares where she was in deep trouble but she couldn't speak-her voice was lost. She rolled out her shorts and got up quickly-she immediately regretted it. Her head ached, and she rubbed her fist over her ringing ear, then pulled her hand back to discover a scarlet liquid smeared across her palm.

She stared dumbfounded at her hand for a moment, paralyzed with fear. She snapped herself out of it in a moment though, and looking around she saw dead and moaning people laying next to her feet- some were children, crying out for their parents.

Children. Aiko!

Manami staggered around, dodging the hands that reached and grabbed at her from down in the flames. She searched the faces of each person she saw, but to no avail; none of them were her father or sister.

Her brain was trying to pound out of her skull, and she was sure her skin was melting off. The air around her was no longer cool breeze carressing her skin, but violent hot wind that clawed at her face and arms. Even though it stung, she forced her eyes to stay open while water poured out of them, the dry orbs longing for the burning to subside.

"Aiko!" She screamed. No sound came out. She blinked hard, willing the stinging to go away. She gulped and tried again.

"Dad! Where are you!" She cried out, turning in a circle, but still there was no answer but the responding moans for help. She was lost in the smoke now, and no one was there but the dead around her.

"HELP, HELP," she called hoarsly and silently to the sky, over and over. She became like the others, just wanting someone, anyone, to grab hold of. She limped around the neverending hell, eventually coming out at some end, the flames on the ground starting to fade. There was just dark smoke now, filling her lungs and stealing her breath.

Tears streamed silently down her filthy, blood-streaked face as she collapsed in the dirt, exhausted. She pulled the top of her shirt over her nose and mouth, desperate for clean air, and cried for her father and sister, knowing this was the end of her life, hoping for a miracle-that they got out, that they realized what was happening and had the strength to escape. Slowly she drifted off in the smoke forest, with the hopeful thoughts for her family.

_-.-.-.-_

_Manami's mother held her to her chest, rocking her back and forth. She was about one now, and she was crying, as always._

"_Shhh, sleep now, darling," she cooed, her voice a lovely and soothing tone. Manami kept on, though, despite her mothers words. _

_She groaned, desperate for some sleep herself. Then she had an idea. She started to sing. She sang twinkle twinkle little star, not knowing any other lullabies, quietly to the small being in her arms. Instantly the little baby stopped her screaming, and opened her eyes, blinking up at her mother. Her mouth was in the shape of a little "o", and then she yawned widely._

"_Aha!" Her mother whispered, relieved to find something that calmed the colicy baby. She began to sing again, just little bits of different songs she vaguely remembered from her childhood. When it looked like the child was knocked out cold, she gently placed her in the wooden crib that sat next to the window. _

_It was lightly raining outside, and the mother smiled at the infant girl sleeping,watching her sniffle every so often. Once she was sure she wasn't going to wake for at least another couple of hours, she said,_

"_Sleep well, Manami," and silently she tiptoed out of the room, quietly shutting the door on her way._

_-.-.-.-_

Soon, Manami woke. Strong and steady arms were lifting her up, carrying her away. She squinted her stinging eyes open to find none other than the grey-haired man from earlier. His face was determined. They sprinted from the smoke, and when Manami started to breath in raspy breaths of clean air, her savior (or maybe her angel) looked down at her. Under his mask, Manami swore she could make out the outline of a grave smile on his lips, and his eye that was showing was kind for a moment. But then it was gone, and he was looking straight ahead again, concealing his expression.

With a moan of pain and sadness, she slipped away slowly, back into unconciousness, wishing she could return to her peaceful dream, and convinced she would never wake again.

**-.-.-**

**Ok soo, super short I know. Sorry. Don't hate me and stop reading. Because guess who she might possibly meet maybe in the next chapter?**

**Hope you liked it!**

**-Rachel**


	3. The Downpour

**HEY! So here is the third chapter. Its sorta long. But whatever. Anyways, I'm warning everyone right now that THERE IS AN ADULT WORD IN THIS CHAPTER. Soo yeah...**

**Thank you to my first two reviewers, YOU ARE AWESOME. Oh and if anybody is bothered by the way that like all my paragraphs are close together or something, tell me, so I can fix it, cause I will. I'm just putting all these up the way that they were on Microsoft Word, I'm not really changing much. Soo, here you go!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto**

**

* * *

**

Waking up in a hospital was always a bizarre experience for Manami. This has been the case a couple times in her life; once when she was just four, and another time a year later. The first time, she had accidentally tripped and fell on a sharp boulder that sat in her back yard, and had knocked herself unconscious.

She woke up to find a doctor pricking her on the back of her hand with a needle, tring to insert an iv. She passed out again because of the unbearable irony smell of her blood.

The second time, she had fallen asleep in her fathers arms in the emergency room, waiting for her new baby sister to be born. She was so excited on the way over to the hospital, despite her mothers horrifying moans of pain. She hadn't realized at the time how long it would actually take to have a baby; she just thought that they just popped out in a second, then it was done and over with.

She had awoken in a pastel blue room littered with needles and towels and people with masks, and her dad was shoving a pink crying thing in her face. The doctors kept throwing words around like 'miracle' and 'lucky'.

She remembered it feeling odd, having come there in the late night, but awakening in the early afternoon, her eyes trying to adjust to the dulled light streaming in through the window. Her father was crying that day when she woke up, and each sob racked his whole body. It was the first time Manami had ever seen her father cry.

He rubbed his eyes through his glasses while struggling to hold the little creature in one arm. It was crying too. It screamed at the top of its tiny lungs, frequently coughing, running out of breath. Manami instantly disliked the thing that was supposed to be her shiny new baby sister; all it did was scream! But then she had started to cry also, unsure of the reason. The whole day was filled with their tears, but Manami never questioned it, afraid of how she would be answered.

At last, that night, after they were home and settled in bed, they had run out of tears. Akimitsu explained to Manami then, the reason for it all; her mother was gone.

This time, however, was probably the most bizarre. She woke to crusty eyelids, dried up eyes, and a hole in her stomach that ached. It felt as if she had taken a punch to the gut, and all her insides had been ripped out; she was empty. Opening her eyes a little bit, she peeked down to her torso, and was relieved to find no gaping holes through the blankets that covered her.

Manami slowly opened her eyes all the way, and blinked at the brightness of the lights overhead. Her ears rang, and she was afraid to look any further into her surroundings.

She felt around instead; felt the scratchy sheets touching her skin, felt the bandages on her forearms. She had what looked like five blankets piled on top of her, but she was still ice cold. She heard a light rain pattering the small windows in the room, and outside the sky was a dark grey. Manami hated this type of weather- she much favored the warmth of a radiant sun.

She lifted her head a little, and then realized she had a visitor. A certain grey-haired man was just chilling out against the opposite wall of her bed, fast asleep in an uncomfortable-looking chair; a small orange book laid open in his lap. She cleared her throat a little bit, staring at the man. He didn't move an inch.

Manami let her head collapse back onto the pillow, her neck hurting from the strain. She vaguely noted that the walls around her were a sickening vomit green color, probably supposed to comfort her or something.

She then inspected herself, feeling her face (just a few scratches and scabby spots), and then testing her bandaged arms. She lifted them up and twisted them a little. They seemed ok, but she didn't dare look at her legs, afraid of what she might see- she remembered the smell of her own burning flesh, as well as those around her.

Suddenly it came rushing back to her, as if someone gave her a blow to the head. She remembered screaming for her family, for her father and sister, for anybody. Where were they? They had to be alright- They had to have gotten out of the way of that bomb, they couldn't have been hurt, it was impossible for Manami to even imagine it.

She sat up fast, too fast, and her head started to throb. She ignored it, and ripped off her covers, revealing bandaged legs. The grey-haired man was still knocked out cold, his head lolled over to the side and his adam's apple sticking out, bobbing every time he swallowed.

She quietly swung her legs over and off the bed, then tested one by placing her feet on the cold linoleum floor, seeing if it could hold her up. It stung a little bit and sent a quick shock through her leg, but it wasn't that bad, she could probably handle it. She started to stand when a door beside the bed creaked open.

"Now where do you think you're going, Miss Hamasaki?" A man said. He was tall and had glasses that were probably supposed to make him look smarter than he really was. He eyed the man in the corner with a suspicious look for a moment, then turned back to Manami with a kind face.

This was a doctor, she realized. She hated doctors. They almost never knew what they were talking about. This one had greasy dark hair, and a long crooked nose that he looked down at Manami over. He was young and lean, and had a look on his face that told you he knew what he was doing. The manner that he spoke with was designed to let people know that they were in good hands, that the doctor had it all taken care of. That's probably all they taught people in medical school, Manami thought. As she spoke, she was surprised at her croaky, raspy voice.

"I was just going to see my father and younger sister- do you happen to know what rooms they would be in? I need to see them now, please." She looked up at the angular doctor, and for a moment he looked away from the clipboard he had started to look over, at Manami, his expression hidden. Then he looked back at the clipboard, then again at Manami.

"Miss, I'm so sorry- your father..." He trailed off, his expression one of pity.

Manami's heart dropped like a boulder off a cliff, and she lost her breath, dizziness overcoming her. The man in the corner was alert now, but he kept his eyes closed, keeping his presence in the situation unknown.

"No... no, that's not right, where is he?" She asked, staring intently at the doctor.

"Miss Hamasaki, your father is gone. He had extensive burns from the fire. I'm sorry, we did everything we could."

"You're lying," Manami said simply. "You're lying!" She screamed, jumping up and slamming the doctor into the wall.

She held him there, intense anger radiating out from her body. She focused in on her arms, giving her the strength to keep the full grown man against the sickly green wall. Newly fresh tears began to run down her face now, and she tried to blink them away as the man struggled against her. There was a crack of thunder outside, and Manami turned her head for a moment, surprised at the noise. This gave the doctor the chance to push back against her, and clasp her arms together.

"Let go of me!" She cried at the man, pleading now. Her tears wouldn't stop.

She then acted on impulse, and shoved backwards as hard as she could, throwing the doctor to the ground.

She had to find her family, they had to be here somewhere. She threw the door open before the doctor could get back up again, and sprinted down the hallway.

She was barefoot besides the wrappings on her feet, which she now realized must have gotten some kind of serious burn on the soles, because they were already starting to ache. People stared at her as she ran, but no one tried to stop her. They probably wouldn't catch her even if they wanted to- she was a pretty fast runner.

She looked around with wild eyes, through the windows in the doors on either side of the hallway, until she reached what looked like a lobby, with worried people sitting in chairs, and a front desk with other people on telephones. Nobody paid any attention to her, even though she was dressed in nothing but bandages and a thin hospital gown. There were lots of kids dressed like that there- she was just another sick girl.

From behind her in the hallway, she heard the dark haired doctor yelling at people to move out of the way. She started to run again, through the glass doors, and out into the pouring rain.

She was instantly drenched to the bone, and the water was freezing cold on her bare skin. She stopped in front of the street, looking both ways, wondering what she was going to do. The only thing in her head was her little sister now, all rational thoughts gone out the window.

Suddenly, a voice was right next to her face.

"Do you really think this is going to get you somewhere?" It said. Manami turned her head jerkily to the side, and found the familiar masked man standing next to her, looking at her with a bored expression. She threw a fist at his face, and he caught it easily, then didn't let go.

"If you would just come back inside, we can discuss this all. There's no need to be punching people."

He said it so calmly, it irritated Manami to no end. Why didn't he understand? All she wanted was to find her family, that was it!

"Get away from me," She spat at him. She jerked her hand back and, frightened, she began to run again, down the street and around the corner in her soaked gown and her muddy bandages. She looked around, but nobody seemed to be following her.

-.-.-.-

As Manami Hamasaki ran wildly down the street, the tall doctor jogged out and stood next to the grey-haired man.

"Better let her go, get it all out of her system." The masked man said, and he shook his head. Then he took out the little orange book from his front jacket pocket. The doctor scowled at it, then nodded. They both walked slowly back inside in a manner that suggested they had seen it all before.

-.-.-.-.-

Manami's long blonde hair was plastered to her face and neck, and tears streamed down her already soaked cheeks, the rain water mixing with the salty kind.

There weren't many people outside, probably because of the downpour. Manami ran until she felt her legs would fall off, not even sure where she was trying to get to anymore. Eventually she stumbled into a concrete gate, and pushed it open, desperately longing for some place warm.

She couldn't feel her toes anymore, and when she stopped running she began to shake and shiver. She limped in to the walled in place, her legs about to give out. There were houses all around her; it looked like some kind of community. There was an eerie feel there, though.

Another crack of thunder and some more lightning- Manami was scared now. Again for the second time in Konoha, she found there was no one there to help her; she was all alone.

It was dark outside, and she was alone. In the rain.

She looked around at what looked like deserted houses. In one, a single porch light was on, and a streak of hope ran through her. Manami dragged herself too it, completely drained now, emotionally and physically. She limped up the stairs onto the porch, then tripped on the top step, and fell over on her side.

"Mom..." She whispered, sprawled out on the wooden floor.

In the distance, she could hear a door opening when she closed her eyes. There was a small gasp (or more like a "hn", Manami thought absently) and then she could feel herself being dragged by the tops of her arms. A door closed, and she could barely hear the rain anymore. She let out a sigh, wanting her small sister by her side now, next to her, assuring her it would all be alright. She heard someones voice, smooth and low; a boy, maybe in the next room.

-.-.-.-.-

"Yeah, Sensei, uh there's this girl that looks like she's from the hospital that collapsed on my front porch-" The boy listened. "Yeah sure, whatever. Ok." He hung up the phone. He crouched down on the floor next to the girl lying in the middle of his living room, and checked the pulse on her wrist. She recoiled at his touch subconsciously, prompting a sigh from the boy.

He stood up and grabbed a blanket off the couch that sat next to her, and threw it over the girl, noticing her body shivering under her thin hospital gown.

He left the front door unlocked, knowing a couple of medics would be arriving soon to pick her up.

"_So much trouble for just one patient..." _He thought.

He then turned the lights off, but before he left to his own bedroom, he stole one more glance at the sleeping girl. Her wet hair was carelessly strewn around her face on the wooden floor. She was shaking violently, her arms curled around her chest in an attempt to stop the convulsions.

"...fuck." He muttered, then sighed again. He padded quietly to the couch once more, snatched up another blanket, then walked over to the sleeping girl. He laid the second blanket over her gently, then carefully and steadily he leaned down and lifted her up. He took the remaining step back to the couch, trying not to jostle her too much.

He dropped her onto the soft cushions, then heard an almost silent moan escape her lips. He froze where he was, still crouched over the small, weak-looking girl. He stared as a single tear escaped from under her light-colored lashes, then made its journey down her cheek and finally dripped onto the fabric of his couch.

Something shifted in the onyx-haired boy's stomach then, he felt different. He stood there for another moment, lost in her expression of utter peacfulness mixed with immense grief.

Then in a second the odd feeling was gone, and she was turning away.

He stood up quickly and shook his head a couple of times. Then he walked from the couch away from the crying sleeping girl, to his bedroom. He laid in bed for about an hour after that, but sleep never came. When the medics arrived, they let themselves in and called out to him, but he pretended to be sleeping. He heard the girl wake in the living room when they tried to lift her up; heard her half scream for help, and heard the men talking in soothing voices as they injected something into her veins, knocking her out immediatly.

Sasuke Uchiha thought about getting up then, about going with them to the hospital, but then thought better of it. He had training tomorrow; he wasn't going to waste any sleep on a stupid girl that needed to just stay in her hospital bed.

The front door shut then, and there was only silence and the sound of the drips of leftover rain from the roof, hitting the window next to his bed. The boy sighed one last time, finally drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**COOL. I know I said she would meet Sasuke, but I mean she sorta did, she was just asleep.:)**

**AW so cute he gave her a blanket and put her on his couuuchhh. awwwwww.**

**Hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW! And tell me anything you think I should work on or whatever, if you want. You don't have to. WHATEVA. K!**

**-Rachel**


	4. Decision

**Hi! Thank you soosososo much to people that reviewed, like and people that added this to their favorites or people that added it to their alert thingy, or just people who are reading this because you are all AMAZZZING. Thank you.**

**Here is Chapter 4, it might be a little short, but I had a hard time with it, and if it's crappy or whatever, I apologize:(**

**This whole week I've been like making sims of Manami on my computer and playing anime dress-up games (yes, I am very ashamed- I am the biggest nerd in the world. My friend thinks I am crazy) because I'm obsessed with this story now. And I think that maybe I will draw her if this ever gets enough people reading it and I'll put it up here or something. Maybe. BUT ANYWAYS. Thank you for reading, please review!**

**-Rachel**

**I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

**

* * *

**It was the second time Manami Hamasaki had woken up in the Konoha hospital. She woke not to the "soothing" green walls from her last visit, but to darkness. At first there wasn't even a difference between when she closed her eyelids or opened them.

She tried to lift her fists to rub her eyes, but couldn't. Her wrists were restrained by soft leather cuffs which were tied down to the sides of the bed. She was lying on her back, and there was dull moonlight streaming in from an open window across from her bed, though only just enough to illuminate her newly bandaged feet, which stuck out from under the thin scratchy blanket that covered her. There was also a light breeze, and it made her shiver.

Her head throbbed as painfully as it had been for the past 48 hours. She lifted it up anyways, and looked around the room skittishly, finally adjusted to the absence of light. Her eyes darted from wall to wall.

A lamp in the corner, an uncomfortable chair under the window; these were her only company in this dark place. She was alone.

Again.

She tried to remember. She closed her eyes and saw rain, felt the cold and exhaution, felt the muddy puddles splash up on her legs with each step she ran. But then she remembered something else...

a voice.

It had been a soothing one, and even now in the dark it calmed her, and she quit her panicking for a moment.

Then Manami remembered why she was running. It was her father- her father is dead. Gone forever. He probably died in this very foul place, let out his last raspy breath in a dark room like this one, all alone, without anybody to hold his hand.

She needed to get out now, she couldn't stay here.

A panicked scream escaped her lips and she struggled against her restraints, kicking her legs on the bed. She was drowning here, she had to leave.

Her wails didn't die down, even when the tears started to come. She cried for her dead father, and for wherever her sister was (probably gone too).

She finally broke one of the chains confining her to the bed, and began to yank on the other one, her wrists bleeding from the leather cutting into the skin there. Her grieving cries became short huffs of frustration as she worked on the wristband. Her long blonde locks fell down in her face, and she pushed them back behind her ears in irritation with her free hand. Her hair was dirty and soaked with sweat and stuck to her neck in an itchy and uncomfortable way. Her tears blurred her eyesight, so she blinked them back, and swallowed hard.

This was what she needed to focus on now- getting out. Maybe if she had something to do, it would push away the thoughts of her father and sister being alone and without her.

-.-.-.-.-

Outside, unknown to Manami, sat a man with grey hair. He watched with interest as the girl woke, pocketing his orange book. He sat in a nearby tree, concealed in the dark. He raised an eyebrow when she broke the first cuff- she was stronger than she looked. Plus, those drugs that they had used on her were suposed to keep her down for at least a few more hours; she burned it off fast!

He thought about intervening for a second, but then decided not to. They would come soon. He stood and took one last glance at the blonde-headed girl, who looked so much like her mother it was insane.

_"She has her same fight in her too..." _He thought absently as he pulled out his orange book again and turned to jump away from the open window and stuggling girl, towards the Hokage's office.

-.-.-.-.-

Just then, a door opened, and instantly hands were pushing Manami down, voices were yelling back at her when she spat out random profanities at the top of her lungs. She felt an impossible anger towards these people, and it was radiating about her body as she swung her legs madly and blindly, satisfied when she knicked one of the men in the nose.

There was now blood on the sheets that she thrashed around in, and she wanted Aiko and her father, she wanted her mother, she wanted the voice that had soothed her before.

She was losing energy when she heard a loud man yelling over the others.

"Ms. Hamasaki, your sister is alive!" He belowed. Manami quit struggling at once, and the room went silent. Her wrists stung, but she forced herself to focus on the man before her.

He was large and burly, and had thick black hair and a brutish face that looked spooky in the glowing moonlit room. He sighed, then put a hand on the shoulder of a nurse that was holding her legs down. There were four of them surrounding her bed, all in scrub-looking clothing.

"You're sister is Hamasaki Aiko, correct?" The black-haired man asked, staring intently at Manami's face. She nodded once, her eyes wide.

"Your sister has suffered serious brain damage from the blow, and has been in a coma since her admittance into the hospital," The doctor said, then, checking to make sure Manami was still listining, he continued, "She is still in critical condition, and we're doing everything we can to help her right now. you can't visit her at the moment, because of her fragile state, but we will be informing you every step of the way. We are unsure on how long she will remain in the coma." He paused.

"She might not ever wake up- you need to be prepared for this." He finished, still looking at her face, trying to read her expressions.

Manami felt relief flood through her for a moment, and then she looked back at the doctor.

"But she might wake up? She might be ok?" She asked hopefully.

The doctor hesitated, then spoke almost reluctantly. "Yes, it is possible."

Manami sighed, then relaxed her head against the pillow.

"We will let you know as soon as possible when you are allowed to visit your sister. For now though, you should rest." The man said.

He then signaled for the others to leave, and stood next to her bed. "You were really lucky Manami, a lot of people died. But you have healed remarkably fast; you should be out of here by tomorrow." He said.

"And as for your father..."

Manami winced. Her father. That wound would never heal. She would never accept his death.

And suddenly a feeling coursed through her chest, one she didn't recognize.

Then she knew what she wanted; to avenge her father's death. To make whoever did this to her family hurt like she was hurting now.

The doctor continued. "And as for your father... we have arranged for his body to be sent back to your homeland where you can hold the funeral, after you get back on your feet of course."

Manami then had a choice to make. She could go back home with her sister, (if she got better or not) and her fathers dead body, and go on with her life as it was- lonely and purposeless. She could return and go back to her same routines, a hollow shell devoid of any feelings she had once possessed.

Or, she could stay and fight against what was happening. She could vow that she would get revenge on the hooded green-eyed man that had threw her life into a deep hole that she couldn't climb out of. She could stay in Konoha, and not run away from what had happened.

She could become a ninja, and protect the little family she had left.

* * *

**OK done! That took a really long time.**

**Hope you liked it though. I'm pretty sure there's more Sasuke in the next chapter. So get ready. Cause it's gonna be CARAAAAAZY. **

**Well maybe not that crazy. Just mildly crazy.**

**So please review!**

**-Rachel**


End file.
